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No good deed goes unpunished

I know I have posted before about animal abandonment in our county. One of the perks for living in a rural area. Here is the latest and some info about rescue groups. This really cost us this time.

We're doing our daily walk and these two puppies peek out from a cemetery gate. They're starving, not just for food but attention.
We couldn't walk away, even if we wanted to, as they are threading themselves around our ankles as we walk. I guess they about three months old.

So we walk towards home, carrying them once we were close to the highway. Each pup sweetly tucked their heads into our shoulder, I guess it's a feeling of relief for them, feeling safe. We get home and I call our veterinarian asking if they will kindly allow them to spend the night in their horse barn until we can take them to a shelter or find a rescue group to accept them. Yes, if we pay for CapStar to be administered. Only $13.50.

Here's where the nightmare begins....(wait, that comes a little later. ) Our county doesn't have a shelter, only a rescue organization (they won't take them). The animal shelter in the neighboring county isn't open Mondays and doesn't open until 10:30 on Tuesday. I have to ask if the pups may spend the night again. Our vet is kind and amazing and allows it, as long as we get them in the morning. So.........we get them early Tuesday and, we call in late to work again.

The ooey part: We pick the puppies up. Unfortunately, I forgot to lay a towel down in the crate. The crate bottom is slippery and they are starting to slide around as I'm driving, even though I am proceeding slowly. Either because they're scared or because they have worms, one pup lets loose with a torrential amount of liquid poop. Since I didn't put towels down...guess what?!

That smelly foul liquid that was once inside the dog is now sliding over the tray onto the back of the car. Also on to the back of the seats that were laid down to accommodate the kennel. The smell is believably bad. It also started raining so we can't even roll the windows down. But we did crack the windows a bit.

By now we are sorry we ever set eyes on these pups as the entire situation has cost us time, money, caused stress and of course, being late to work again. Not to mention our Forester smelling like toxic waste. BUT....it's not their fault. They were discarded as if they were trash. They are innocent, dependent and living creatures....not trash. No, we are furious at the A-hole who made this someone else's problem. Angry that anyone could be so callous to abandon these little girls to a fate of starvation, getting hit by a car or attacked by bears, foxes or coyotes who live in our area. May that person never know a happy time in their future life - what they did was unforgivable.

So anyway, we stop at our house on the way to the shelter so we can hose out the kennel and get towels. It was a mess. The thought that the shelter may not take the puppies crosses our minds as we aren't residents in Leon county. What would we do? We are already dressed for work and late. Plus we are concerned we now smell like.....shit. So...I'm not proud that I called the vet back and asked for a price to have these pups euthanized but yes, I did that.

I really didn't want that but anger and frustration got the better of me when I made that call.
They called the shelter in Leon county to be sure we could indeed surrender the puppies because they didn't want the dogs euthanized either. They are good people - calmer heads prevailed.

Finally, we get to the shelter and it was no problem. It cost us $50 because, as I mentioned, we aren't Leon county residents so there is a fee to drop off an animal. $25 per animal. If it happens again it will cost us double as that is their policy. Then it will be $50 per animal.

Some things to know and I figure there could be questions about rescue, cleaning smells out of a car, etc.

* Vinegar and water cleans out the scent but I think the Febreze worked better. Initially I used hot water and soap but the smell was still very strong. We then tried sponging with an equal mixture of vinegar and water and that helped. But the Febreze made things even better. Hopefully there won't be a next time on this sort of cleanup but if so, we will try Febreze first.

* When we called rescue organizations and they were full, no room to take on these pups, we were frustrated. At the shelter they explained why rescue groups need to get the animals only from the shelter. It's about liability. If someone doesn't like their neighbors cat and calls rescue and they take it....liability. The shelter checks for a microchip and holds the animal for 7 days, thus giving the owners a chance to check and retrieve their animal.

* Euthanasia is an option for an animal so far gone that it's the kindest thing to do. We saw a boxer that slowly starved and it was awful. It couldn't be caught and would disappear for a long time. When it reappeared, scrounging for food, it was so wary of people. Last time we saw the boxer (after weeks) it was skeletal. If we could have caught it we would have paid for euthanasia. It's the kindest thing.

* Yes, we will rescue a stranded or dumped animal again, I was only frustrated over the mess and loss of time and money.

* No, we couldn't foster or keep the puppies because we have an older dog. Aja is 15 and we won't do anything to upset her last years with us. Plus, we plan to move out of state after we are both retired. By then, we will (sadly) be without pets and we plan to travel quite a bit.

Vicki, I think they will be taken on by a rescue group once their 7 day period is up and no one claims them. They are cute puppies, very friendly and sweet tempered. They placed them in the same kennel and since they are siblings, I'll betcha they get adopted out together.

If I notice Big Dog Rescue has them available I will do an update. I'm with you, it's tempting to take on these unfortunate cases but if you did, you'd have hundreds of animals!

My grandparents live in the country and in the 20 years since they've lived there all of their animals have been dump offs. Thankfully they have a decent amount of land and aren't on a fixed income so they are able to take all those that wander up, feed them and provide them with vet care. With very few exceptions all these dogs (and a few cats) have been wonderful loving animals. I don't understand how people can just dump puppies or kittens. They're so defenseless and helpless. Our new kitten was thrown out of a car when he was only 4 or 5 weeks old and suffered some pretty severe injuries (he's more than fine now) all because someone didn't want to deal with him. It makes me so mad! I'm glad you were able to help the puppies despite the ordeal. You're right about no good deed going unpunished!